Headteacher Message

Hello all,

This is a midweek newsletter which is very exciting for me.  This one is being written from the ‘furnace’ formerly known as my office. There is a lot to update you on. Firstly, thank you all for your cooperation in the last couple of days.  We thought long and hard about the best way to serve our community during this extreme weather.  We always wanted to give parents the opportunity to have their children in school and continue to provide breakfast and after school provision. We have a number of working parents and carers and we need to provide for them. It surely has to cool down tomorrow so hopefully we can finish on a low. Temperature that is.    

In terms of reports, we have had some lovely feedback and also some suggestions about how we can improve them.  Primarily the issue of attendance grading was raised.  I actually feel that many fair points were made by the parent body.  Some children have had their attendance graded as room for improvement or cause for concern. This was done purely on numerical data and did not take into account Covid or other unavoidable absences. This is tricky because we as a school are judged on our overall attendance data and want to have children in learning everyday but are also aware that some absences are unavoidable.  I think it may be worth listing the actual percentage and instigating a discussion with individuals rather than having negative gradings.  We will adapt the format for next year.  We listen, we learn, we adapt.

In terms of staffing, there are many updates to give you.  As you know, Claire Keith is leaving us at the end of the year. Claire has been at the school for 16 years and has had an impact across the school.  She will be greatly missed.  The news is that we have employed an excellent replacement.  Her name is Poppy Rahman and she has experience of working in specialist schools across the borough.  She is unable to join us in September as she is seeing out her notice but she will be in place from the Autumn half term. 

Both Rosie Thwaites and Natalie Pepper are leaving the nurture team at the end of the year.  They have both been in position for two years and have done an amazing job setting up our nurture provision. Their impact has been felt across the school and I truly believe they have helped to change many children's lives for the better. As a school we thank them for this. This is however only the end of the beginning of the nurture model at Darell School. We have already employed an existing member of staff to replace one of the positions. Joss Francis will be working full time in the nurture provision from September. We know she is going to be excellent.  We are currently recruiting for the other position.  

Look out for an email shortly that will give you details of the sports day tomorrow. Fortunately, the weather is relenting, and we will be going ahead as usual. The Key Stage 1 event will take place from 9.30 -11.30am and Key Stage 2 will take place from 1.15 -3.15pm.  At the Rec.  

I just wanted to end with an understated reminder !!!!!!!!!SCHOOL IS OPEN TOMORROW AND EVERYBODY IS EXPECTED IN!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Stay cool and see you tomorrow.